The wooden house was constructed in 1858 and from the late 1960s onwards it has been a central node in the Norwegian counterculture.

The council gave it heritage status in 1979 and handed over the ownership in 1981 to an umbrella group (Stiftelsen Arbeidskollektivet) which represents the organizations using the building.

[3][4] It became an important node in the Norwegian counterculture and a meeting place for anarchists, squatters, gays and lesbians.

[2] Spisestedet, the vegetarian café, first opened in 1972 and there are also a bicycle workshop and a radical bookshop and infoshop.

[7][8] The offices of Gateavisa were destroyed but the bicycle workshop on the ground floor survived and could carry on its operations.